Story+1984-07-15+Chicago,+IL

´´Alright....we´re gonna be playing a long time so sit down out there....I´ve got a story to tell you....I always, I work in New York, up in North Jersey all the time so....I always end up ....riding down the New Jersey Turnpike late at night....and, uh....it was about 3.30, 4 am..... and I was just riding along, kind of humming to myself....I was thinking of getting home, I was gonna see my girlfriend....raid the refridgerator....yeah....girlfriend....refridgerator.... refridgerator....girlfriend....I was....I was, I was riding along and I was up kind of the northern end of the Turnpike and as I rode along, I realised that this place looks just like the moon....and the original title, actually the original title of this song was ´One Giant Step For Mankind, Two Cheeseburgers To Go,´ except....except I had to change it ´cause it was too long, that´s too long for a song title....but, anyway, I was kind of cruising along and I´m one of those people that, like, I never get gas until I absolutely have to....it´s like....I have my, I have my car figured out, like, when it goes on ´E,´ I ain´t even thinking about it yet....I got it figured out so if it gets just about this far down from ´E´ that´s when I gotta start worrying.... but I like to gamble too, like, I´ll be a little below ´E´ and I see a gas-station and I say ´No, I´ll get the next one´....I´ll go to the next one so....but, now, to live a risky life like that, sometimes it backfires on you so this night I was driving along and I passed a station and I said ´I´ll get home quicker if I stop at the next gas-station´ (chuckles) and all of a sudden about five miles, ten miles down the road, I started to pull over real slow....no gas....so....so I got out of the car....started hitchhiking....this guy screams by me, going about 80 miles an hour, stops, puts on his brakes, pulls back, throws his door open and says ´Get in´ and I get in and he´s got a bottle of Jack Daniels in one hand and (crowd cheers) you should´ve been in the car, that was....he was having way too much fun for me (chuckles) so then he takes me off this exit, he says he knows where there´s a gas-station and then he lets me out and there´s this little station on the corner and I go up and I say ´Gee, you know, I ran out of gas, can you give me a gas can?´ ´We don´t have no gas cans´....so I went, I sat down on the curb, I decided that....I wasn´t gonna get home that night....and I was in a very dangerous part of North Jersey and that I might not actually survive the entire experience....and that it was time for me to write my memoirs so that, in case I died, they could serialized in the National Enquirer every week after I was dead....so I sat there and I said ´Now, how did this all begin?´.... (....) So there I was....sitting on the curb....and all of a sudden up pulled another car....and the door gently opened....and a woman´s voice said....´Son....step inside´....then I realised I was dreaming (chuckles) but I found someplace that was open....all....night.....´´
 * 15.07.84 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Open All Night´´**

´´I guess when you grow up around someplace you always kind of find somewhere that you can go that´s outside your house that means something special to you.....you can get away from your mom and your dad or, or yourself, I guess (chuckles)....´´
 * 15.07.84 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´The River´´**

´´Take it easy now....alright....we got anybody out there (crowd cheers)(chuckles) that´s, do we have anybody out there that´s 30 years old tonight? (some cheers) woah! only you guys, right? you´re older than that, you gotta be (chuckles) you´re old as me? I´m older than you? (chuckles) alright, this is for anybody....you guys are old, yeah (chuckles)....(?) when you go out someplace and you see somebody who you knew or who you didn´t really know way back when and they start talking to you about all the great times they had, you know, like the guy that comes up, says ´Hey, Bruce, how´s the band? Remember me? Yeah, I was the guy that, remember we were seniors, I threw a pizza in your face?....That was great, that was a great time´ (chuckles) anyway....are you ready, boys?....´´
 * 15.07.84 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Glory Days´´**

´´Alright! (chuckles)....this is for Brian over there (?)....´´
 * 15.07.84 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´The Promised Land´´**

´´Big, Big Man on the saxophone.....Nils Lofgren on lead guitar....oh....this is, uh....just about every time you pick up the papers, you see....they´re writing stories about how all the new technology, the new media and stuff are bringing us, bringing the whole world closer together but, uh....it seems like there´s more people who feel isolated from their jobs and isolated from their families and their friends....and sometimes....you get a real sense of powerlessness that rushes over you.....you´re locked in and have nowhere to go....´´
 * 15.07.84 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Nebraska´´ (following ´The Promised Land´)**

´´When I was a kid, I used to....I lived by this park and in this, in this park, there was a monument and I remember I used to tell my mother, she´d say ´Where you going?´ I´d say ´Oh, we´re gonna go, we´re gonna go play down by the monument and, uh....I guess I grew up all around it, I was....you know, we´d chase each other around and stuff and then when I had my first band, we said, well, we needed some publicity pictures so we had like, we got, we had, all had these matching plastic snakeskin vests (chuckles) and we said ´Well, we should get our picture taken so let´s get it taken down by the monument´ and so we went down and I was, I was about 15 or 16 then and I realised that I never knew what it was a monument to (chuckles) and I guess I later found out that there was kind of an important Revolutionary War battle that was fought just about a mile or two outside of the town I grew up in....it´s funny how you live around those things your whole life and sometimes you don´t notice, I went down to Washington about a month before we came out on the road....and I went and saw, like, Lincoln Memorial, which is really, it´s, it´s an impressive thing and, uh, real close by they have, they have the Vietnam Veterans´ Memorial and uh....which is, it´s such a, it´s such a, they have a book that you can look up, I had a couple of friends of mine from high school, they have a book where you can look up their names and it´s a black marble stone, you can find the number of the stone they´re on....I remember there was this guy Bart Haynes and he was, he was a drummer in my band for a while and he was just a, he was a real funny guy, always getting in trouble and stuff and the only thing that was left of him down there was the name on, on that black marble, I thought about it, I guess it´s, uh.... monuments, they´re for, uh, so that you always remember....´´
 * 15.07.84 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´My Hometown´´**

´´Damn...honey, what were you doing to me? (chuckles)[I guess this is in reference to Bruce´s dancing partner earlier during ´Dancing in the Dark´]....guess, when you´re, when you´re a kid, you make a lot of promises to yourself....and I guess I always, I always considered myself as lucky as you can get ´cause when I was real young I dreamed something and it came true for me....so this is for, uh, this is for Little Steven, wherever he is tonight....´´
 * 15.07.84 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´No Surrender´´**

´´Now, this is a song....about....love.....desire.....passion....greed....money....sin....redemption ....and all that stuff you seen on the soap operas in the afternoon....you see, I got up late, I started to get hooked on watching this ´All My Children´ all the time (crowd cheers) I used to like Opal, she was my favorite, she´s not on the show no more, though, so I don´t watch as much but that kind of inspired, all that kind of intrigue kind of inspired this song, the original title of this song was ´All My Cadillacs´ (chuckles) or ´Who´s Riding This Cadillac?´ (chuckles) ´The Young And The Cadillacs´ (chuckles) ´The Guy In The Cadillac,´ no (chuckles) but anyway....´´
 * 15.07.84 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Pink Cadillac´´**

´´I remember you promised that....that if you got out first, you´d help me....and if I got out first, I´d help you.....come back, baby, come back....come back, darling, come back....come back, darling, come back....I just wanna....just wanna kiss you....come back, darling, come back....´´
 * 15.07.84 Chicago, IL, middle of ´´Backstreets´´**

´´Ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages....we have on our stage tonight, beginning from my left, on the piano....the most intelligent member of the E Street Band....he´s smart.... the only member with a full high school diploma (chuckles) so let´s hear it for education and Professor Roy Bittan....his latest computations, they´re there....from Asbury Park, on the vocals, Miss Patti Scialfa....on the drums, author of The Big Beat, the Mighty Max Weinberg ....on the bass guitar, Mr.Garry W.Tallent....on the organ, the mysterious, the delirious, the inevitable, the inimitable, the incredible, the unfathomable Phantom Dan Federici....and on the guitar, (?) rock´n´roll for ten years, drumroll, please - Mr. Nils Lofgren (Nils does his stunt on a trampoline) that´s incredible....now last but not least....what can I say about the man that hasn´t already been said?....we all know he´s the king of the world....we all know he´s the master of the universe, the emperor of all things....well, now, I know that this is an election year....so let me nominate tonight for the presidency of the United States of America [Roy starts playing ´Hail to the Chief´] gimme a C-L-A-R-E-N-C-E, what´s that spell? (crowd: ´Clarence´) what´s that spell? (crowd: ´Clarence´) what´s that spell? (crowd: ´Clarence´) goodbye, Ronald Reagan, hello, Big Man, Clarence Clemons....´´
 * 15.07.84 Chicago, IL, middle of ´´Rosalita´´ **

´´This is for Gary and Kay Brown....´´
 * 15.07.84 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Jungleland´´**

´´Thank you, I´d like, I´d like to thank everybody for coming down tonight.....I know, I know a lot of you guys waited in line a long while to get your tickets, I want you to know we appreciate it....and, uh....when I was a kid growing up, rock´n´roll came into my house over that little speaker and it just kind of said ´Let freedom ring´ to me.....and that´s what this is all about here tonight so remember you gotta fight for it....´´
 * 15.07.84 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Born to Run´´**

´´Wait a minute now....wait just a minute.....I think we´ve taken this just a little too far....I think this is getting out of hand now....no, no....about a month ago I had a dream, I was laying in my bed....had the window open, this little breeze coming through....(?)....and just as I put my head on the pillow....to go to sleep....off in the distance....I heard a train....so I sat up for a minute, then I lay back down....when I put my head on the pillow....I heard a train.... I heard a train....way off in the distance....´´
 * 15.07.84 Chicago, IL, middle of ´´Detroit Medley´´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//